Players whose great stints at United are often forgotten

[AndersB]

I don't know if this is a caf-specific phenomenon (probably not), but it often amazes me how some players' contributions are erased from the collective memory on here.

1. To me, the best example of -current- players is Luke Shaw. It is often referred to "that one good season" (as part of a more general roasting of him), while he has in fact had several great runs for us, such as before the leg break, the year he won the POTY, the previously mentioned season - and also his current run of form. By all means, when he is out of form, he seems a complete shadow of himself, and seems the textbook definition of a confidence player. But when he is on it, he's a very stable performer, and one of the best full-backs in the league.

2. Another example is Chris Smalling, who people in here ripped into constantly as part of the "chuckle brothers" during his last years here. But Smalling was truly great for several seasons, around 2014-2015 and at the end of SAF's reign (except when playing as full-back, which he was dreadful as). I'd even argue he was our best player for at least one season.

3. Somewhat different, as very few criticize him, but I also feel it is easily forgotten how good Michael Carrick actually was for us - at least underappreciated due to him playing alongside much "flashier" players (and in a less flashy way). He is exactly the kind of player we have been sorely missing for such a long time now.

Other good suggestions here?

 

[Foxbatt]

Anderson, Berbatov, Hargreaves.

 

[Pirlo'sBeard]

Antonio Valencia.

 

[TheReligion]

RvN - The club didn’t win as much with him here but he himself was such a fantastic goalscorer.

De Gea - Gets plenty of stick now due to his contract but he’s been a superb keeper and one of the very best in the world at points.

 

[Sky1981]

Beckham

His contribution to United emergences post Heysel as one of the top global brand is often underlooked

His brand alone meant a whole new wave of Asians supporting United instead of Arsenal or Liverpool.

 

[Red Royal]

Lee Sharpe was great but Ryan Giggs came along and made the LW his own

 

[Giggs' right foot]

Wes Brown, I think, has escaped a lot of the plaudits because of Rio and Vidic, but he was imo sensational. Loved him.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Antonio Valencia.

Agree with that - when he retired there was some weird narrative that he'd been terrible for about 5 years or something daft like that.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

Herrera.

5 seasons at the club, and consistently at the center of pretty much every good spell of form we put together and every trophy we won in that time:

2014/15 - when Van Gaal finally found that 4-3-3 / 4-5-1 setup with him, Carrick and Fellaini in midfield, leading to the successive wins over Spurs, Liverpool (his excellent pass leading to Mata's first goal) and City
2015/16 - set up the winner in the FA Cup semi
2016/17 - man of the match in the Europa final, set up Zlatan's winner in the League Cup final, scored + assisted and dominated the league game against Chelsea which was probably our best of the season
2017/18 - scored the winner in the FA Cup semi
2018/19 - at the center of that incredible run we put together when Ole came in, adding balance to the midfield (he had a knack for it, clearly) next to Pogba and Matic. No coincidence we fell off a cliff when he got injured

Despite all this, because he left on a free transfer (to join a better team, with whom he reached a CL final in his first season in which he set up at least 2 clear chances), he gets dismissed by a large chunk of posters here as a passion merchant who can't pass the ball forward.

 

[Lee565]

Sheringham

 

[Tom Van Persie]

Agree with that - when he retired there was some weird narrative that he'd been terrible for about 5 years or something daft like that.

I remember some fans and pundits calling him the best right back in the PL at one point. He had a good run in that position under LvG then Mourinho.

 

[Stobzilla]

Sheringham

Yep, PFA player of the year in 00/01 season and was a big loss during the 01/02 campaign. Probably would have been deadly with Ruud.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Yorke was top 5 player in the league for his first two seasons here. Rarely gave the ball away and scored loads too.

 

[Giggsy13]

Gabriel Heinze. He burned bridges obviously by pushing for a move to the scouse but he was great before being usurped by Evra.

 

[Bobski]

Paul Ince, the Liverpool move has meant an outstanding Utd career has been largely forgotten.

 

[Josh 76]

Valencia
Anderson
Brown
Hargreaves

 

[Sgreddevil]

Phil Jones when he just emerged and fit. He was rock solid during the phase and we really had high hope of him having a long period of success at the club. We thought our defence was sorted for a decade at least.

 

[philnguyen1994]

Didn't Saha score nearly a goal every game in his first dozen or so games for Utd? Pretty sure he reached 20+ PL goals that season with Fulham and us and was only behind Henry for top scorer. Then injury ruined him, although he continued to have a purple patch for a few months every other season. Such a shame.

Agree on the Herrera shout, best CM signing since Carrick for me, better than the likes of Matic, Pogba and Blind. Hopefully, Casemiro will be even better.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Welbeck for me. Yes, his goal record wasn't great but he always seemed to elevate the team when he started. Think it was the 11/12 season when he and Rooney started the majority of games together up top. The season we lost on GD but also the season we scored the most goals in the EPL (99).

 

[Remember the geese]

The opposite of this would be someone like Henrik Larsson. Came in and did ok. Nothing special. Yet is often romanticised as if he was the catalyst for our title win that season.

Though to answer the question, Michael Silvestre.

 

[Foxbatt]

Sheringham

Agree with you. Scored the equalizer and created the winning goal for The CL win. He should be credited as much if not more than Ole for the CL Final win.
I think he scored in that FA Cup Final too

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

Welbeck for me. Yes, his goal record wasn't great but he always seemed to elevate the team when he started. Think it was the 11/12 season when he and Rooney started the majority of games together up top. The season we lost on GD but also the season we scored the most goals in the EPL (99).

Agree with this, and I think he could have hit another level as a footballer with better luck staying fit. I was expecting us to go into 2011/12 with Rooney and Hernandez (who had been in great form in the run-in the previous season) up front, and I think Hernandez was even among the favorites to win the Golden Boot! Welbeck came in instead and we produced some incredible football from the start of that season until the 6-1 against City.

Didn't Saha score nearly a goal every game in his first dozen or so games for Utd? Pretty sure he reached 20+ PL goals that season with Fulham and us. Then injury ruined him, although he continued to have some decent scoring spells. Such a shame.

Another good shout, and similar to Welbeck, replacing Ruud with him in 2006/07 did wonders for our football. Averaged a league goal almost exactly every 180 minutes for us which is a pretty good return - the problem, obviously, being that he only managed to play the equivalent of 56 league games in four-and-a-half seasons.

I remember some fans and pundits calling him the best right back in the PL at one point. He had a good run in that position under LvG then Mourinho.

Would disagree with this one. Valencia was good for one season under Mourinho - 2016/17 - but otherwise by then a painfully limited footballer whose standard move when he had the ball in absolute acres of space was to a) smash a cross with no target, often into the defender's shins (we even have someone on this forum who names themselves after those!) or b) stand still, bounce on the spot for five seconds, wait for the entire opposition team to get its shape back, and then pass it backwards.

Valencia was great as a winger from 2009 to 12, and deserves our respect for his contributions in those three seasons including coming back from a terrible injury. As a full-back, even Wan-Bissaka was an improvement.

 

[Shai-Hulud]

Chicharito was excellent for a couple of years.

 

[Scottynaldinho]

Agree with that - when he retired there was some weird narrative that he'd been terrible for about 5 years or something daft like that.

Because he was terrible for a few seasons before left. He was never a good RB and was never the same after the ankle break.

 

[Red the Bear]

Saha?

 

[AdNani]

Didn't Saha score nearly a goal every game in his first dozen or so games for Utd? Pretty sure he reached 20+ PL goals that season with Fulham and us and was only behind Henry for top scorer. Then injury ruined him, although he continued to have a purple patch for a few months every other season. Such a shame.

Agree on the Herrera shout, best CM signing since Carrick for me, better than the likes of Matic, Pogba and Blind. Hopefully, Casemiro will be even better.

Saha man, what a player he would of been.

 

[Moriarty]

Tweety.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Because he was terrible for a few seasons before left. He was never a good RB and was never the same after the ankle break.

Except that plainly isn't true.

His best season came AFTER his ankle break in 2011/12 (16 assists 6 goals in all comps - both our player of the year awards)

And he was a very good right back - easily one of the better RB's in the league at one point and won our Players POTY and 2nd in the Sir Matt POTY in 2017.... think he was also nominated for the FIFA Pro XI at RB that year too.

 

[wangyu]

Andy Cole has been pretty much forgotten as well and Nani

 

[Kag]

Silvestre.

I can’t be arsed to Google it, but I’m sure he played around 300 games for us. Never a Ferdinand or a Vidic, but a useful player to have around.

 

[Kopral Jono]

Hargreaves that one season is a fantastic shout. Say what you like about him, but the free kick he scored against Arsenal proved to be pivotal and without him I don't think we'd have won us the Champions League. Worth every penny.

 

[Lee565]

Yep, PFA player of the year in 00/01 season and was a big loss during the 01/02 campaign. Probably would have been deadly with Ruud.

It would have been interesting to see the two together back in that period of football, I know ruud was the type of striker that had to play as a lone striker but Sheringham link up play was brilliant and formed a good partnership with shearer and was underrated for his playmaker ability.

 

[90 + 5min]

There are many players that have been our heroes and deserved more attention. Just because we hade so many stars, they never got what they deserved. Few that just comes up in my head. Ji Sung Park, John O'Shea, Louis Saha, Wes Brown, Ronny Johnsen, Nicky Butt, Mikael Silvestre.

 

[EngimaMK]

Wes Brown, I think, has escaped a lot of the plaudits because of Rio and Vidic, but he was imo sensational. Loved him.

I came here to say this. At points he was freaking awesome, great in the tackle, reading the game and could spread the ball okay too. Very much a confidence player that could perform to a high standard when he's having a good spell.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Ronny Johnsen had a more than decent career at United before he damaged his knees. He had formed a great partnership with Stam, who gets all the plaudits, for the treble season. Quick feet, adequate at 1v1 defending and more than capable to play in Fergie's often frantic tempo of choice in the 90s, which left a lot of spaces for the centre-halves to cover. In the second half of the 90s, he was also one of SAF's go-to players when we needed more "steel" in the midfield battle. I still remember the game in Milan, on the road to the treble, when he was deployed next to Keane to help us deal with the movement of Ronaldo and Baggio between the lines.

John O'Shea was the epitome of a utility player. Not the most talented footballer to wear the red shirt, and certainly not the most naturally gifted. I still remember how awkward and clumsy he looked during his first appearances for the club. I couldn't understand what the gaffer was seeing in him. But, of course, the great man knew better than anyone. He was rewarding his effort, determination and his commitment to the cause. By the end of his decade at the club, O'Shea could do the job in all positions across the back-four, and he could also fill in as a DM whenever that was needed of him. I appreciate him even more now, in the age when players like to moan on SM about their favourite positions and about how they feel "mistreated" and want to get revenge. O'Shea shut up and did his job. And after he had been shown the door, as a Sunderland player, on the "Aguerooo" day, he was inconsolable in the dressing room. Oh, and he scored that chip at Highbury.

Brian McClair is a personal favourite. It doesn't help that his heyday was during the late 80s/early 90s period, when the club was still trying to figure out a way back to the top of English football. His partnership with Hughes never really kicked on, and Sparky was the big fan favourite. After that, Robins nearly got his spot, and then Cantona arrived. He survived by transforming into a midfielder for Ferguson, who always rated him. Choccy was a robust, strong forward, but also an intelligent footballer who managed to remain useful when others got his spot up front. Either as a forward or as a midfielder, McClair was loyal, hard-working and a class act. He registered 127 goals/49 assists for the club and he was the only player to score more than 20 league goals from 1968 (Best) to 2000 (Yorke). I always think of his as one of the most pivotal players in our transitioning period from the first tough years under SAF to the glory days that followed.

 

[Adebisi's Hat]

Wes Brown, I think, has escaped a lot of the plaudits because of Rio and Vidic, but he was imo sensational. Loved him.

Wes Brown is a good call, he some injury issues but when he was fit he was really good. Immense against Barcelona i remember. Also 2 champions leagues for Utd.

Owen Hargreaves is another i'll mention because SAF called him out as his worst signing which was horrifically unfair. I love SAF but he is a mean bitter old sod sometimes.

 

[Devil77]

Rooney! Often we only read about his swan song seasons.

 

[the_cliff]

Henrik Larsson..

 

[Maticmaker]

1970's Greenhough Bros, in particular Brian, He was the ultimate utility player, right back (2)/ Centre back (5)/ right half (4)/ Centre forward (9) in, the days before players had their own named shirts. Shirts were numbered 1-11 and they literally "played for the shirt".

Brian played a few times for England, if he had been permanent Centre back at United, he would have had the England No5 shirt regularly. The utility aspect stopped him claiming a fixed position, but in those days Tommy Doc struggling first of all to avoid the drop into Div 2, then roaring back into Div 1 and a cup final the year after, losing to Southampton, (my first final) he needed a utility specialist. Then with Brother Jimmy joining United (from Stoke), the following year we beat Liverpool 2-1 in the FA CUP.

The Greenhough's role never fully appreciated IMO.

 

[2cents]

Ronny Johnsen seems the most obvious one, totally forgotten figure of the treble-winners.